This is How Long Every Kind of Food Can Sit Out Before It Goes Bad

Forgot to put away that chicken? Can you refrigerate potatoes? Get all your questions answered here.

Get more Spoon in your feed.

Get Spoon University delivered to you

You tryna be tricky? That email doesn't look right.

We’ve all left food sitting out on the counter, but little do we know how harmful it can really be. Last semester in my food science class, we learned about food safety and since then, I have become way more paranoid about leaving my food out. However, there are some fruits and vegetables that can sit out for further ripening. Find out the truth below.

Cooked Foods, Meats and Fish

Photo by Kathleen Lee

Any cooked foods or cut fruit cannot stay out longer than two hours. This is two hours total. This means that for every minute you take food out to rearrange your fridge, contemplate eating it or forget to put it away, it counts towards the two hour window of leaving food out.

Well, what’s really the harm of leaving it out for longer?

When food sits at room temperature, it’s in the “Danger Zone” of 40-140°F. This temperature is bacteria’s ideal environment to grow and multiply. If it’s a hot day, then food should only be left out for an hour. When you freeze your food at a temperature of 0°F, the bacteria becomes inactive. At a proper fridge temperature of 40°F, bacteria does not grow or grows very slowly. Therefore, products will eventually go bad, but can stay fresher for longer.

Photo courtesy of USDA

Fruits and Vegetables

Photo by Sean Koetting

Fruits and vegetables vary on how long they can last and where they should be stored. Here’s some advice on how to store them to last the longest.

#SpoonTip: Once cut, store these in the fridge to keep them fresher for longer.

Foods that can start on the counter for further ripening, but should then be moved to the fridge: avocados, peaches, plums, pears, nectarines and kiwi

Photo by Sasha Kran

#SpoonTip: Bananas, apples, tomatoes, apricots, figs, cantaloupe, honeydew, avocado, pears, plums and peaches are high ethylene producers, which means they speed up the ripening of any fruit or vegetable they are left next to.